False Alarm at Casper Bank Prompts Police Response

A false alarm at the drive-through of the Wells Fargo in downtown Casper on Friday forced police to surround and clear the building to verify there was no emergency.

Casper Police initially received a call about the alarm around 11:15 Friday morning.

When an alarm goes off at a bank, police contact the bank to verify the alarm was not an accident. In this case, Wells Fargo did not follow protocol, prompting Casper Police to respond. In total, five police officers and two trainees responded. The officers cleared the building once they made contact with the people inside and got them to come out of the bank.

Police stressed the importance of following the proper procedure in these kinds of situations. "If [police] have the bad guys in there and they don't come out, we go in," said Sgt. Lyle Bergo with the Casper Police Department. "If we have a hostage situation, we run the possibility of civilians getting hurt; somebody getting killed. So by them coming outside and following protocol, and answering to us to come outside, we keep people alive."

In total, the incident lasted less than an hour, and the bank went back to business as usual.